


Close To You

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson dropping fbombs in his head, F/M, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Romance, Skye is Coulson's escape, Sneaking Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 13:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3384104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skoulson feels.  Just drabble thinking about Coulson being unable to put to words how he feels about Skye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close To You

He just wants _five minutes_.

_Is that too much to ask?_

Five minutes.

Without a form to sign, or HYDRA launching an attack, or someone sneaking around.

No wonder Fury was so paranoid and fucking cranky. He's thinking about adopting his "No time for this shit" policy, despite some initial misgivings about it not being his _fucking_ style.

It might be his fucking style after all.

He rubs his forehead vaguely recollecting the point at which "fuck" became a part of his regular repertoire.

Probably right after that _fucking temple_.

There's the sound of footsteps nearing his desk.

"No," he says, prematurely.

He looks up and sees her standing there, immediately regrets his tone.

She's holding the folder, looking away, but the nervous movement of her knee lets him know it's made her impatient.

"Didn't know it was you," he mutters. "Sorry."

"This a bad time?" she asks, making eye contact.

"No. No, it's good, he says," holding his hand out for the file.

She studies his face for a moment.

"I think your face is...stuck." The tone is very serious, but he suspects he's being played.

He cracks a hopeful smile.

"That's better," she says, giving up her own soft smile.

It's not something he's seen in awhile. It brings back a flood of memories, for whatever reason. Cutting through the agitation he was sitting alone with before.

His hand comes to rest on his desk again.

_Just five minutes..._

"Do you want to get out of here?" he asks abruptly.

She blinks hard, looks slowly with her eyes as though he might be speaking to someone else.

"Where?"

" _Not here_ ," he says emphatically, leaning forward.

This time, she grins.

 

***

  
"This is sneaky."

"I like it that you want to be sneaky," he chuckles, putting his phone on emergency only, feeling her eyes on him as he stares down at the device on his lap and then slides it away into his pocket.

_That didn't come out right._

"What brought this on?"

"Just wanted to be somebody else for a change, I guess?" he answers, taking a deep breath and rolling down the window of the SUV. He leans out and looks out  across the view, takes in the night air.

" _With_ somebody else?" she finishes.

He stares back at her, wrestling again, with words or, maybe a feeling he can't quite put a name to.

It should be so obvious by now. Yes, with her. Who else?

"I flipped a coin," he deadpans. "It was you, or Hunter."

She makes a disapproving face at him. "You were going to park with Hunter?"

"I wasn't... _Skye._ It was a joke." He's going to ignore the obvious suggestion at play here.

It's been awhile since they were alone together. Just able to talk and not feel like something is weighing on them. There's a possibility this has made her feel uncomfortable and that she went along with it because she's worried something's up with him.

"Yankin' my chain, boss. Not very nice."

"Sorry. You should lighten up."

He wants her to know this isn't that kind of talk.

"Oh, I don't mind flirting with my handsome, much older boss," she answers.

He takes a deep breath, determined to not take the bait. There's a familiarity to it, though. They used to sit in SUVs and talk like this, on occasion. There's a precedent for it. And he can take a little ribbing.

"Since we're pretending to be someone else," she adds.

"Feels good to get out of the base," he says, flipping the switch on the seat to lean it back a little. He settles in and looks back at her. "Peace and quiet."

"At this nice lookout point you found for us," she says, turning towards the windshield to take in the view of the city lights below them.

"You can see the whole valley from up here."

"It's so quiet," she says. "Just you, me and the man with the hook hand."

"What's that?" he asks, resting his hands across his stomach.

"You've never heard that one?" she asks. "It goes _waaaay_ back..."

"Just deliver the punchline."

She leans forward and turns on the radio, tuning it to an oldies station.

"Once," she begins, in a low whisper. "There was a young couple parked on Lovers' Lane." 

Coulson rolls his eyes but smiles along.

"The radio is playing, while they are _totally_ making out," she says, trying not to crack herself up. "Oblivious to anything but each other. _Even_ to the sound of the gentle scraping just along the car door."

He bites on his lower lip.

"Suddenly!  The news comes on," she continues, animatedly, sitting up in her seat, splaying out her hands. "A serial killer has just escaped from the nearby mental institution, and..."

"I've heard this one," he says, looking back at her then switching off the radio.

Skye huffs in her seat.

"They drive off and there's a hook attached to the door handle," he finishes quickly.

Suddenly, he's terribly fascinated by the steering console. When's the last time someone had this vehicle maintained?

He starts rubbing at some dust on the dashboard.

"What, do you wanna make out?" he jokes.

He meant for it to sound way more over the top than it comes out.

Skye laughs at him, but it's not a nervous laugh.

He tries to join in, but it comes out sideways.

"Yeah, that was _supposed_ to be funnier," he says, working his jaw.

"Why did you bring me here, Coulson?" she asks pointedly.

"I just wanted to be alone with you," he said, shrugging. "Talk. _Or not._ "

"Cool," she said, turning around and sitting back down in her seat. "At a lookout point?"  She says it with a choked laugh, after he's said nothing.

"I thought you'd like the view?" he asks, wincing, looking out at the city lights and wondering where he went wrong.

"The problem is, I do like the view."

This is the way things have been between them. Intense. Partly, what he thinks, he was trying to escape from. Or was he just chasing it again?

" _Skye._ "

He's squeezing the steering wheel between his hands.

"It's okay, sir," she says.

 

  
***

   
On the stretch of highway back to the base, something had to give.

"You're right," he confesses, as she reached for the radio. "That's not why I asked you to come with me. I'm not sure why I did. _Wait..._ I just knew I wanted to be alone with you. Alright?"

"And now we're alone," she said, withdrawing her hand, staring out her window.

"Can we start over?" he asked. "Are you hungry?"

"If I say 'no' are you going to keep acting _really awkward_?"

"This isn't easy for me," he said. "I've never been good at balancing work and personal life."

"We _kind of_ don't have personal lives," she mentions.

He takes his eyes off the road to look at her for a moment. "I don't want to screw this up."

"Me neither," she answers back.

In the end, he pulls over at a roadhouse and they head inside to the sounds of Honky Tonk music. They survey their surroundings and she walks to a table in the corner while he goes to the bar and orders them a couple of beers.

Sliding into the booth next to her, he sets them down, and loosens his tie with a bit of pent up energy.

"Cheers," he says, smiling, lifting his beer to hers as they clink together.

They both look around the space at the mix of truckers and locals. They know they're out of place here.

"Why does it have to be so complicated?" he asks, taking a drink. "I liked you from the moment I first met you."

He's not exactly meeting her eyes, but he's talking. It feels real.

"And then," she said, fidgeting with the condiments on the table. "I managed to make your life a whole lot more complicated."

"No," he smiled. "You've made it better." Her eyes meet his in the most direct way possible, and he goes on. "It was already complicated. You made it make sense."

She hesitates for a moment as he takes a drink, then puts her hand on his wrist.

"I'm sorry," he said, forcing himself to meet her gaze again. "That must sound stupid."

"It's the most un-stupid, stupid thing you've ever said to me."

He smirks, and raises his eyebrows, hoping he's not actually blushing, because he's way too old for that.

"I liked you, too," she admits with a half-smile, her hand still on his arm.

"What happened?" he asked, moving towards the gesture.

"What happened was...I still liked you," she said, setting her beer down on the table.

He draws his hand out from beneath hers, and shifts in the booth, sliding his arm along the back of it. Then, setting the beer in his hand down as she watches, he lifts it to touch her face, brushing his thumb against her cheek.

"I want to kiss you."

She looks down for a moment, then puts her hand on his knee under the table. 

"I want you to."

Leaning in, he meets her halfway, his fingers drawing along her chin, and they hesitate trying to figure out the right angle, and when she does, he slowly presses his mouth against hers.

The same feelings that were overwhelming him before come back, but now her hand is on his shoulder, and then his chest, grounding him, and it feels like such a release to give into it.

Her eyes flutter open and she looks up at him then kisses him, as he inhales at the feeling of her nails teasing just along his shirt collar.

He'd forgotten about these feelings. And she's made it all fresh in his mind again, and he tugs back at her, drawing her mouth against his as he deepens their kiss, getting lost in her being closer than they've ever been.

That's all he's ever wanted. He realizes it now.

It's ridiculous that the Director of SHIELD snuck out, and it's probably past midnight, but kissing Skye in a booth in the corner of a roadhouse is possibly the most erotic thing he can remember.

He's never felt so honest.

His arm wraps around her, and they sit together, leaning into each other, finishing their beers in happy silence.


End file.
